Slide fastener operator



1962 F. B. DIERKS 3,059,301

SLIDE FASTENER OPERATOR Filed Oct. 24. 1961 44 56 6 ats) .v INVENTOR. 1 FRED B. DIEEKS y ATTORHEY$ Uni fid States, Patent Oflice 3,059,301 Patented Oct. 23, 1962 3,059,301 7 SLIDE FASTENER OPERATOR Fred B. Dierks, 1701 Hamilton Lane, Grants Pass, Oreg. Filed Oct. 24, 1961, Ser. No. 147,232

r 8 Claims. (Cl. 24-20515) This invention relates to a novel operator for slide fasteners.

The primary object of the invention is the provision of a more efficient and practicalhandle-equipped device of the kind indicated which renders easy the opening and closing of slide fasteners of garments, located in hard-torea-ch areas, such as in the backof a womans dress, the device having a protective shoe which prevents damage to undergarments by being caught in the fasteners as the slides thereof are operated.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a device of the character indicated above, which can be economically manufactured and assembled, and which is easily applied to and removed from the finger-piece of the slide of a slide fastener, for operating the finger-piece.

Other important objects and advantageous features of theiinvention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings, wherein, for purposes of illustration only, a specific form of the invention is set forth in detail.

In the drawings:

. FIGURE lis a perspective view showing a device of the invention applied to aslide fastener located in the back of a dress; FIGURE 2 is an enlarged fragmentary elevation of FIGURE 1, partly broken away;

FIGURE 3 is a vertical transverse section taken on the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a horizontal section taken on the line 44 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a vertical section taken on the line 5--5 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 6 is a horizontal section taken on the line 6-6 of FIGURE 2.

Referring in detail to the drawings, wherein like numerals designate like parts throughout the several views, the illustrated device, generally designated 10, comprises an elongated handle 12, preferably somewhat flexible, and preferably composed of a wire loop having a bight portion 14, at one end thereof, and legs 16, having free ends 18. A channel bracket 20 has a web 22 having hook flanges 24, along its side edges, which are directed inwardly toward each other, the free ends 18 of the handle legs 16 being securably embraced in and between the hook flanges 24 and the web 22, and being held in laterally spaced relationship, by the inturned free edges 26 of the hook flanges;-as shown in FIGURE 6.

The bracket web 22 has a preferably integral elongated fiat longitudinal extension 28, on the end thereof remote from the bight portion 14 of the handle 12, which is flexible and resilient, and normally extends in the plane of the bracket 20 and the handle 12. On its free end the extension 28 has a lateral, flat tubular receiver 30 which comprises a flat web 32 having laterally inwardly directed hook flanges 34 along its side edges, and on the side of the web 32 adjacent to the bracket 20, the free edges 36- of the flanges 34 being substantially in meeting relationship, as shown in FIGURE 5.

A flat flexible and resilient J-shaped spring 38 comprises a substantially straight standard portion 40 which terminates in an acutely angled terminal 42 which is securably inserted between the web 22 of the channel bracket 20 and the free ends 18 of the handle legs 16, whereby the standard portion 40 flares away from the side of the extension 28, at the side of the extension the end of the web 22, remote from the extension 28,

by a bend 29, the extension and the spring 38 thereby being in onepiece, for economical manufacture.

The standard portion 40 of the spring 38 is longer than the extension 28 and merges into a return-bent crook portion 42, which, as shown in FIGURE 3, is longitudinally spaced fromrand reaches across the receiver 30, in the normal position of the extension 28. The crook portion 42 terminates, at its free end, in a flat, transversely elongated protective shoe 44 which is centered relative to .the receiver 30, and which has a slight longitudinal curvature and extends equally beyond the side edges of the crook portion 42, the convex side 46 of the shoe 44 being remote from the receiver 30, and normally spaced therefrom. i

The device 10 is provided for operating a conventional slide fastener having spaced toothed runs 48, secured to the opposed edges of an opening 50 in a garment, such as a womans dress 52, and slidably embraced by a slide 54 having one or more tyes 56 projecting from the outer side thereof, which are pivotally and securably engaged through openings 58 in the innerend of a flat fingerpiece 60. The device 10 is applied to the fastener by holding the bracket extension 28 and the standard portion 40 of the spring 38 in the hand and compressing the same together, so as to move the receiver 30 far enough away from the fastener slide 54 toenable the finger-piece 60 to be inserted in the open end 62 of the receiver, whereat the extension 28 is released to spring back, toward the shoe 44 and thereby engage the receiver over the finger-piece '60. The ends of the shoe 44 are then engaged behind the edges of the dress opening 50, so that the convex side 46 of the shoe bears harmlessly and slidably against an existent undergarment 64, as indicated in FIGURE 1, whereupon the device is adapted to be moved along the opening 50, by means of the handle 12, in either direction, for opening or closing the slide fastener. The shoe 44 holds the undergarment 64 out of the dress opening 50, thereby preventing snagging of the undergarment in the slide fastener and damage to the undergarment, as the slide 54 is operated. -The shoe 44 has the additional purpose of stabilizing the device 10, relative to the slide fastener and relative to the body of the wearer of a slide fastened garment, as the slide 54 is operated, by bearing flatly and slidably against the body of the wearer of the garment.

The device 10 can be applied and operated either from a pendant position, as shown in FIGURE 1, or from an upstanding position, depending upon the users convenfence or the location of the slide fastener.

Although there has been shown and described a pre fer-red embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not necessarily confined thereto, and that any change or changes in the structure of and in the relative arrangements of components thereof are contemplated as being within the scope of the invention as defined by the claims appended hereto.

What is claimed is:

l. A slide fastener operator comprising a handle, a bracket secured on one end of the handle, a longitudinal flexible and resilient extension secured to and extending from the bracket, said extension having a lateral slide finger-piece receiver thereon, a spring having a longitudinal standard portion secured to the bracket and diverging away from the side of the extension remote from the receiver, a crook on said standard portion reaching spaced across the extension and the receiver, said crook terminating in a shoe spaced laterally from the receiver.

2. A slide fastener operator comprising a handle, a

bracket secured on one end of the handle, a longitudinal flexible and resilient extension secured to and extending from the bracket, said extension having a lateral slide finger-piece receiver thereon, a spring having a longitudinal standard portion secured to the bracket and diverging away from the side of the extension remote from the receiver, a crook on said standard portion reaching spaced across the extension and the receiver, said crook terminating in a shoe spaced laterally from the receiver, said receiver being tubular and having an open end facing the shoe.

3. A slide fastener operator comprising a handle, a bracket secured on one end of the handle, a longitudinal flexible and resilient extension secured to and extending from the bracket, said extension having a lateral slide finger-piece receiver thereon, a spring having a longitudinal standard portion secured to the bracket and diverging away from the side of the extension remote from the receiver, a crook on said standard portion reaching spaced across the extension and the receiver, said crook terminating in a shoe spaced laterally from the receiver, said receiver being tubular and having an open end facing the shoe, said shoe being centered relative to the receiver and extending beyond the opposite sides of the crook portion.

4. A slide fastener operator comprising a handle, a bracket secured on one end of the handle, a longitudinal flexible and resilient extension secured to and extending from the bracket, said extension having a lateral slide finger-piece receiver thereon, a spring having a longitudinal standard portion secured to the bracket and diverging away from the side of the extension remote from the receiver, a crook on said standard portion reaching spaced across the extension and the receiver, said crook terminating in a shoe spaced laterally from the receiver, said receiver being tubular and having an open end facing the shoe, said shoe being centered relative to the receiver and extending beyond the opposite sides of the crook portion, said shoe being transversely elongated and having a convex surface remote from the receiver.

5. A slide fastener operator comprising a handle, a bracket secured on one end of the handle, a longitudinal flexible and resilient extension secured to and extending from the bracket, said extension having a lateral slide finger-piece receiver thereon, a spring having a longitudinal standard portion secured to the bracket and diverging away from the side of the extension remote from the receiver, a crook on said standard portion reaching spaced across the extension and the receiver, said crook terminating in a shoe spaced laterally from the receiver, said handle comprising a wire loop having legs having free ends, said bracket being channel shaped and having a web having inturned hook flanges along its side edges, the free ends of the handle legs being clamped between the hook flanges and the web of the bracket.

6. A slide fastener operator comprising a handle, a bracket secured on one end of the handle, a longitudinal flexible and resilient extension secured to and extending from the bracket, said extension having a lateral slide finger-piece receiver thereon, a spring having a longitudinal standard portion secured to the bracket and diverging away from the side of the extension remote from the receiver, a crook on said standard portion reaching spaced across the extension and the receiver, said crook terminating in a shoe spaced laterally from the receiver, said handle comprising a wire loop having legs having free ends, said bracket being channel shaped and having a web having inturned hook flanges along its side edges, the free ends of the handle legs being clamped between the hook flanges and the web of the bracket, said extension being a prolongation of the web.

7. A slide fastener operator comprising a handle, a bracket secured on one end of the handle, a longitudinal flexible and resilient extension secured to and extending from the bracket, said extension having a lateral slide finger-piece receiver thereon, a spring having a longitudinal standard portion secured to the bracket and diverging away from the side of the extension remote from the receiver, a crook on said standard portion reaching spaced across the extension and the receiver, said crook terminating in a shoe spaced laterally from the receiver, said handle comprising a wire loop having legs having free ends, said bracket being channel shaped and having a web having inturned hook flanges along its side edges, the free ends of the handle legs being clamped between the hook flanges and the web of the bracket, said extension being a prolongation of the Web, the standard portion of the spring terminating at one end in an acutely angled terminal, said terminal being clamped in the bracket between the web and the free ends of the handle legs.

8. A slide fastener operator comprising a handle, a bracket secured on one end of the handle, a longitudinal flexible and resilient extension secured to and extending from the bracket, said extension having a lateral slide finger-piece receiver thereon, a spring having a longitudinal standard portion secured to the bracket and diverging away from the side of the extension remote from the receiver, a crook on said standard portion reaching spaced across the extension and the receiver, said crook terminating in a shoe spaced lateral-1y from the receiver, said handle comprising a wire loop having legs having free ends, said bracket being channel shaped and having a web having inturned hook flanges along its side edges, the free ends of the handle legs being clamped between the hook flanges and the web of the bracket, said extension being a prolongation of the web, the standard portion of the spring terminating at one end in an acutely angled terminal, said terminal being clamped in the bracket between the web and the free ends of the handle legs, said terminal being connected at its free end to the end of the web remote from the extension.

No references cited. 

